In an interesting bit of synergy this week, we had two sitcoms put out a silly song on the web.

On How I Met Your Mother, Marshall’s ode to his double date with Barrobin got another joke website out out there to join the likes of Canadian Sex Acts and Slap Bet Countdown (sadly both sites seem to have disappeared).

Vodpod videos no longer available.

Too bad there isn’t a longer version of Marshall’s song about accidentally killing his mother-in-law’s cat.

Meanwhile, on Modern Family Haley’s boyfriend was on the verge of winning over her parents until they heard his song “In the Moonlight”.

Jeff Zucker has a bit of a reputation for choosing profitability that comes with a heavy long-term price and The Jay Leno Show may be the latest example. While the show is indeed making more money than NBC’s previous 10PM dramas, the bigger picture isn’t encouraging. NBC’s average rating at 10 PM is down by 43%, The Tonight Show is down 23% and, most troubling, local news (on NBC stations, though it’s probably safe to presume there’s something similar happening on affiliates) have also seen audiences shrink by 16%. NBC may be more profitable in the time slot, but its dragging down the shows that follow it.

The shrinking audience for the local news is the most troubling data point because, as Mark Evanier explains, that’s valuable to affiliate and if affiliates decide to bump Leno (most likely, as Evanier suggests, to air an early news show with Leno airing after prime time) there could be a domino effect that hurts the entire late night line up.

Meanwhile, the few hits NBC had at 10 PM — namely, Law & Order: SVU and Dateline — are facing troubles without the 10 PM slot. In its new time slot L&O is struggling against the stronger Criminal Minds. ABC’s newsmagazine 20/20, meanwhile, is once again winning its time slot now that its facing Leno and not Dateline.

Then again, the alternative would have been finding strong series that could be hits at 10PM and history shows it was unlikely that would happen at NBC.

Fox has picked up the rights to adapt UK game show The Cube which, from what I’ve seen could be described as Beat the Clock prettied up with modern production styles. I’d be excited about the possibilities if Fox’s recent game shows managed to hold my attention for more than two episodes. Then again, it’s not like Fox’s competitors have managed to make any gameshows I’ve liked, either. (Though the frequent gratuitous beefcake did get me to watch NBC’s Identity.)

My big worry about ABC’s newest sci-fi show, FlashForward, was that this would turn into Lost — a poorly-paced mythology show better at asking questions than giving satisfying answers. However, according to series producers that’s not a danger. David Goyer and Marc Guggenheim told SFX Magazine that they have a detailed outline for seven seasons that will tell the story.

Hopefully, this means FlashForward won’t fall into the traps that befell Lost, which started to fall apart midway through the first season and we got several episodes in a row where the Lostaways had the same debate about the hatch door. Of course, the real challenge will come when ABC gets a hold of focus group reports and directs Goyer and Guggenheim to ensure whichever character tests highest becomes overexposed instantly.

TiVo reports that for the first two weeks of the season, less than half of Leno’s audience (46 percent) opted to view the show in time-shifted mode in homes with TiVo DVRs. By comparison, 70 percent of the audiences tuning into NBC shows between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. last season did so in time-shifted mode.

When NBC tried to pitch Leno as “DVR proof” I scoffed, thinking, “If you feel the need to be able to discuss Jay at the water cooler, you can just start watching at 10:15, skip all the commercials and finish watching the show the same time as the rest of your time zone.” So far, it’s looking like I was wrong in that assessment.

Sadly, rumors of soap operas facing cancellation continue with rumors getting louder that One Life to Live does not have long to live. What’s frustrating in this case is that OLTL is arguably the best soap on the air right now, it’s the only soap that even vaguely resembles what the genre was like at its best. It’s also one of the best managed, reportedly coming under budget while its sister shows keep looking for ways to cut costs.

There still is one big unknown in all this — how OLTL lead-in All My Children will handle moving production from NY to LA. A move like that could mean a big change for the audience to accept — the majority of the behind-the-scenes crew will change and it’s still undetermined which cast members will make the move — and this attempt to save AMC could just as easily kill it.

A mild silver lining to the rumor says that OLTL‘s most compelling characters right now — gays Kyle and Oliver — would move to Pine Valley if OLTL were canceled. I’m not sure if that’s much of a silver lining, however, when you consider how fans of AMC lesbian Bianca Kane have been frequently frustrated with how the show has handled gay storylines.

Every time I watch a Twilight Zone marathon, I’m surprised by the number of episodes that are new to me, even though it’s a show I’ve watched since childhood. I have a similar reaction to this mix of scenes from the iconic series’ entire run, there are so many moments that are a complete blank.

I may be a fan of ABC’s Life of Mars but I’m not really disappointed to hear that it’s been canceled, mostly due to the news that ABC is letting the series reach an ending.

I’ve been watching the ratings and cancellation isn’t a surprise. I was more upset that I might not find out the “different” resolution the US producers had in mind, but now that I’m getting an answer to what this Sam Tyler is doing in 1973, I’m happy to have enjoyed the show as it was.

While I thought the UK Life on Mars worked in a lot of ways, the show really clicked once it reached its ending. Once you knew why the UK Sam Tyler was stuck in the 70s, it gave a powerful context to every episode before, giving it a tragic edge.

So far, I think the ABC Life on Mars has shown a good understanding of its predecessor, including the various dynamics at work (IMO, it’s a show that tries to explore where society was in the 70s, which includes the way we looked at law enforcement in pop culture, an awkward balance) so I’ve got my hopes that the US version’s “different” ending will similarly add a new context to the show. As it is, the UK ending has enhanced my enjoyment of the US series quite a bit and I’m hopeful that they can top that feat.

But I hope the ABC finale doesn’t include that Israel Kamakawiwo’ole version of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” because I don’t need to complete dry out my tear ducts.